Sarah Woodford named recipient of MDA National and Rural Doctors Association of Australia's new rural medicine scholarship

Knowing first-hand the struggles rural communities face retaining doctors, the former Gunnedah High School and St Mary's College student said a career in medicine was always her aim.

"Growing up in a rural community we were always plagued by this issue of there are not enough doctors, not enough allied health staff to service the community," she said.

Currently employed as a junior medical officer with the Hunter New England Local Health District in Newcastle, the 25-year-old has been named as a recipient of a new scholarship aimed at supporting more junior doctors to work in the bush.

The #DestinationRural Bursary offered by MDA National and the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) will help her achieve her goal of pursuing general practice or paediatric training in the Tamworth region.

She said she was "honoured" to be selected.

"Rural medicine was always my aim, I didn't always know what that was going to look like but I always wanted to return to the country," she continued.

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"Part of it is serving a need for those communities that I have recognised and felt before I even got into medicine."

After highschool, she moved to Sydney for university, but quickly realised it wasn't for her, so she opted to finish her qualifications in Wagga Wagga.

"Now having experienced rural medicine in Wagga, I know it's definitely where I want to be," she said.

"It's serving a need, but it's also the community and the sense of relationship you feel with your patients that you don't necessarily get in the city."

Sarah will be moving to Tamworth next year for her residency year, and hopes to use the bursary to help fund a clinical rotation to Scone, in which she will gain experience at both Scone Hospital and also one of the town's general practices.

In 2020, she was the successful recipient of the RDAA Medical Student of the Year Award.

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